It takes guts to give up a promising ad career to pursue a musical passion full-time but that?s exactly what Neel Adhikari dared to do ? only to be amply rewarded with the sound of success. The talented vocalist, who was doing spare-time gigs with Krosswindz, quit his well-paying job at Equus when he realised he couldn?t do full justice to music and the fast-paced world of advertising at the same time. Something had to go and so he chucked his ad career to perform with Krosswindz full-time.

Krosswindz?s album, One World, went on to do extremely well, and things took another turn when Neel started learning Indian classical vocals from Pandit Santanu Bandyopadhyay.

Soon after, Oxford offered him a job with flexible timings and it was while looking after the music section on their website, that Neel became attached to computers and set up his own studio. An experimental project with his guruji followed and thus was born A Class Apart, specialising in fusion and lounge. Later on, he even teamed up with his close friend, Chiro, formerly the drummer of Krosswindz to set up a new group Span, which plays rock right from the ?60s to the current era.

Right now, Neel?s time is taken up by A Class Apart and Span, which performs at Someplace Else every week. He?s also part of a classic rock band, and stays occupied with plenty of ad jingles and music scores, like those for plays like The Jungle Book and Beyond the land of Hottomala with Zarine Chowdhury. In between all this, he?s even found time to lend his voice to title tracks of TV serials Post Mortem and Hashte Mana, besides singing in Goutam Ghose?s Abar Aranye.

Music apart, the one great love of Neel?s life is his pretty wife Alka. An advertising professional, Alka is a graduate in psychology, who worked with agencies like FCB Ulka, Equus and Bates, after a six-month course in advertising. At present, she is the creative group head at Rediffusion. Together, she and Neel share a love for music, movies and of course, loads of fun.

Neel:

I was into client serving at Equus when Alka joined the same agency as a copywriter. She was in a relationship at that time, as was I, but that didn?t stop us from bonding from the word go. Both of us had the same wacky sense of humour ? I?d be saying something funny and people would look at me as if I?d lost my mind ? and there would be Alka cracking up at my joke. Humour aside, we became great friends as well, and given that there was always some amount of attraction simmering under the surface, it was only fated that the two of us get together once our respective relationships ended.

Since then, Alka and I haven?t spent a single day apart. We?ve been married for two years now, and despite our erratic work schedules, we still manage to spend an incredible amount of time together. Life with Alka has been fantastic ? we?ve gone for several holidays together, and had a whale of a time. In fact, we?re just back from a trip to Malaysia, where we went for a wedding, and ended up being heavily criticised as we were spending all our time hanging out with each other.

But that?s the way it?s always been with us ? we still hang out like the best of buddies, and the fun part is that Alka is always game for anything. We?ve gone white-water rafting together, and if I came up with a spur-of-the-moment plan to leave for an immediate trip, I can count on her to have her bags packed and be ready. We aren?t like the average married couple who?d plan out every little detail first.

Besides being a very funny person, Alka?s rock-solid and very deep-rooted. She takes a step at a time but everything is very sure-footed. I?ve always been a multi-tasker, still am, and I learn from her as she does from me. On the flip side though, she?s got an awful temper, and can be incredibly stubborn, which is probably why she?s so successful. If she?s made up her mind about something, absolutely nothing can sway her, and more often than not, I give in. Anytime my friends ask me what I?m doing in the evening, my standard reply is ?Let me ask the boss?. She?s the boss.

Of course, there?s also the fact that I find Alka amazingly attractive. She?s got the most awesome eyes and when I get up before her, I just love watching her sleep. I must have taken a thousand pictures of her sleeping, something she always gets bugged about.

I take Alka?s opinion very seriously and whenever I?m doing a special job, I always make her listen to the music or bounce ideas off her. She writes better than anyone I know, and while she?s written a couple of songs for me, she really likes the way I write. And she does go through my lyrics. Our musical tastes are very similar, as is our love for animals and films, which we can watch endlessly. In fact, both of us are huge fans of Sting and recently went to Delhi just to see him in concert.

For Alka and me, the concept of romance is very different from that of most others. For most couples, it could be long walks on a rainy evening, Alka and I would probably be the happiest chasing a puppy in a park on a sunny afternoon.

Alka:

To tell the truth, I didn?t even notice Neel the first time I saw him. I mean, he?s really cute and all that, but I was new on the job, and too busy spending all my time at my desk. But once we got to know each other better, we got along like a house on fire. It was such a great time. We?d pour our hearts out to each other, without the emotional pressure that comes along with a relationship, and in retrospect I think the biggest thing was that while I was quite inhibited, Neel would do all the things, I could think of but not actually dare to carry out. In that sense, he?s very courageous, I remember I was in awe of him when he decided to give up his job to pursue music full-time. He?s still got that courage ? I love the fact that he?s trying to do something fresh and new musically, when most others are busy doing regular stuff, or even churning our remixes.

Neel is a child at heart, something which has its good as well as its bad side. Because he?s like a child, his creativity grows and blossoms ? grown-ups have the baggage of inhibitions ? and also, he?s genuinely nice. On the negative side, though, he?s got very little foresight, he?s always living for the moment. As far as music is concerned, he?s got the longer view of things, but about the rest, I?ve come to realise that I?m the one who has to think about and plan for tomorrow.

Also, Neel is such a messy person that he drives me up the wall. I?m a very meticulous person, and initially when we got married, I thought I can?t live like this. At the beginning, I?d hound him every moment, now he cleans up a bit. But then, he keeps saying he?ll try to change, which is sweet.

Another thing that?s really sweet about him is that he totally splurges on gifts. I expect something and he gives me double. On one of my birthdays, for instance, what he did was way beyond my expectations. He was performing at Someplace Else, and exactly at midnight, he started singing Happy Birthday while a cake started doing the rounds. Then he got off stage, and came up and gave me this beautiful diamond ring, while I sat there in shock, my mouth hanging open.

And yes, Neel is amazingly supportive. I?m not a self-starter, he keeps pushing me and telling me I have the potential. He inspires me to do more and when I see him pushing himself, I feel the same. Also, there?s the fact that he?s been in advertising, so he totally understands the demands of my job.

It?s not like Neel and I don?t fight ? we do, quite a bit, and about the silliest things ? but all said and done, we couldn?t be happier.

Photograph by Rashbehari Das